Lights
by StarsOfYaoi
Summary: *Gen, England-centric, request fic from mad bomber75* England's first meeting with his magical friends.


**SOY:** this was a request made by mad_bomber75, little England meeting his faeries for the first time.

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**Rating**: K+.

**Warnings:** a bit of darkness.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Hetalia.

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**Lights**

**One–shot**

The leaves rustled quietly as the chubby, small figure shifted through the bushes, pushing them aside and making his way through the forest, panting lightly.

The figure was wearing a cape, a rough, heavy cloak of a dark brown colour, with a hood carefully covering his head to hide a mop of dirty blond, unruly hair, and he really looked out of place in the middle of the forest surrounding him in every direction. Dark green eyes darted around at every noise, almost as if scared, and when a cold breeze hit him, he shuddered and cuddled more into his cloak, clutching the hems closer to his small body.

Everywhere he looked at, there was just green, so much green, and leaves and grass and trees, sometimes with patches of fertile soil, and it did feel like the forest would never end, simply continuing forever, on and on.

It was late in the evening –the sun had set already, sending a cool blanket of darkness to cover the world, and everything looked gloomier, stranger… no more the familiar place the small figure was used to living in.

It was scary.

"I–I knew I shouldn't have moved" he sniffled, shivering when the shadows of the trees shifted again, almost resembling a wild animal.

Of course, something inside his mind whispered at him words of comfort, a voice that said how he shouldn't be afraid of the forest… some sort of sweet, warm feeling that vibrated in his chest, attempting to make him feel at ease, but his mind recoiled, not wanting to be lulled in tranquillity.

He'd lived in the quiet meadows of the north for far too much time, away from others, and of course this forest would be scary. Of course he needed to be afraid.

The small figure sighed, curling more into himself and moving forwards again, knowing it would be best to just keep going, and ignore the tears pooling in his eyes.

All of his life, or at least as much as he could remember, he'd lived in a sunny meadow in the northern valley, not too far to the forest he was passing through, but of course he had only visited during the day, becoming friendly with the small, sweet animals around; he didn't remember seeing any other person or human being there, except for his mother, but his mother had passed away, so many days before, and even before, she had never been with him all the time.

His mother had been beautiful. Long, bright blond hair, and eyes that were the colour of the richest terrain, a lithe, flexuous body that danced around for him, making him giggle. Yet, she never remained too much around, and he had been unable to follow her running through the forest, too small and chubby to keep up.

She had never liked to be enclosed in tight, narrow spaces, and had taught her little child to live in the wilderness, under the stars, only coming to small houses of wood and terrain when the temperature fell too much, or the weather turned bad.

She had given him the names of the stars above, names for things around him, for animals and plants, teaching him the magic that was hidden deep into them, natural powers that blossomed in the wild.

The name _he_ had been given, as Mother said everybody and everything had to have one, was Britannia. It sounded somewhat important, resounding inside his mind, but it felt too big for him.

And he felt even smaller and weaker now, alone and afraid, shifting through the forest, leaving the places he'd lived so long in, and moving away.

Without his mother, people had started coming to get him –strange people, people his mother had despised, running away, laughing at them and murmuring of her freedom… despite their attempts, she had remained untainted, free…

She was gone now. Britannia didn't know how it had happened… one day, she was. The next, she wasn't anymore.

He'd been left alone. All alone.

Mourning his mother, he had decided to run. He didn't know if the others that had chased mother would really keep coming for him, but he feared they would not stop just because he hid and ran. She had never been wrong before, and she has said he'd have to be alert.

He was tired. The forest kept expanding around him, closing on him, shifting, vibrating, murmuring, the noises scaring him, the darkness filling his heart with despair, the lack of his mother's presence causing new tears to run down his cheeks…

What would be of him? Would the scary people get to him?

Would he be left alone forever, without anyone to talk to, to disappear like his mother had?

"_Child?"_

Britannia jumped up high, screeching, tears falling down his cheeks in fear, and scrambled backwards, nailing at the tree behind him, the hood falling from his head to reveal huge eyebrows and wide green eyes.

In front of him, there was a light.

It was flashing and vibrating, and it was floating at his eyes height, glowing of a yellow, calm hue. It was bright, really bright, and in the middle of the almost complete blackness of the forest, it was unexpected and it hurt his eyes.

"W–who are you!" he yelled, unable to understand the strange light but afraid it might belong to his hunters. "G–go _away_!"

"_You don't have to be afraid, child… we mean no harm…"_

And then there were more, lights all around him, and the grass was shining under droplets of light falling everywhere from the glowing orbs, and Britannia felt his racing heart slow down, now that he could see his surroundings and that they were familiar, and not scary anymore.

The lights lowered their intensity, so it would not hurt his eyes, and he sniffled, rubbing at his eyes.

"Y–you don't?" he hesitantly asked, relaxing his arms. "B–but…"

One of the lights, the first that had spoken to him, moved forwards to circle him once, and to Britannia's surprise, it morphed into something vaguely human–shaped. Looking closely, he realised it had the appearance of a human, much like his mother, but so thin and small… just a bit bigger than his hands.

It had black eyes, pointed ears, flowing red hair and a pair of beautiful, delicate wings on its back. Its body was of an indefinite colour, faded into the glowing light.

"Who… what…?" oh, but it was so beautiful. He wanted to touch its wings, wondering if they were as smooth as silk.

The black eyes were looking at him, and the same vibrating warmth that had been in him before, calming his fears, returned again, burning and thumping and soothing. For the first time, Britannia allowed himself to be lulled a bit, suddenly less afraid because he wasn't alone anymore, and the creatures were different from the ones his mother had warned him against.

"_Please, do not cry"_ the voice wasn't entirely a voice, it echoed strangely in the air, but Britannia was soothed by its soft tone, and smiled a bit, scrunching up his chubby face. _"We are the spirits of this forest, your spirits"_.

"M–mine?"

It was surprising, actually –he couldn't recall something that had been his to begin with. Not even his mother had been his alone. He had to share her with the nature, with things he couldn't comprehend.

'Mine' meant they belonged.

"_Yours"_ the voice was pouring warmth again, and one tiny hand reached forwards, brushing against his wet cheeks and trying to wipe tears too big for it. _"We've always been yours"._

"Are… are you like the ones chasing me?"

"_No"._

The lights blurred together for a second, dancing around him, and Britannia let out a childish laugh, eyes unable to look away.

"Do you know them, then?" he tried steering himself to the conversation, but the pretty lights were enticing.

"_We do. They are humans"._

"Like me?"

The humming sound coming from the creatures' wings stopped.

"_No, child. You are not like them. Nor like us"._

Britannia sniffled, uncertain. The humans had looked like his mother. They had looked like something he would become growing up. Were they not the same?

"_Your mother didn't teach you. Your mother didn't tell you"_ the murmur grew into a buzzing sound, and now every creature flying and floating around him was whispering and singing together, cacophony of sounds that wasn't pleasant to listen to, but neither was it unpleasant.

"_You are soil, you are grass, you are water washing down in a river, and you are the river"_ the voices grew louder, humming together, the brightness flashing in distress _"you are the mountain and you are the tree –you are a single rock, and the slide. You are the flowers, and you are the sand. What is around us, that is you"._

Britannia squinted for the creature that had started the speech, but now they were all too bright, and floating so quickly he couldn't make one over the other.

"I–I don't understand" he sniffled again, tears returning to his eyes without him knowing why. He wasn't afraid, nor was he in pain, but he wasn't able to stop the tears.

The something inside him was burning, almost in recognition of the words, almost welcoming them into him as spring flowers welcome the sun, as if they meant more than they did. As if he'd been expecting to hear them for so long, but hadn't at the same time…

The voices hummed together, in a song without music.

"_You are our mother and you are our father, you are our shelter and you are our home"_ feathers and wings moved closer, brushing at his hands, at his cheeks and his eyelids now shut close. _"You are ours in being and spirit, and we are yours, your children, your life. Our power is yours to use, yours to learn and to hold inside you when we are no more"_.

Britannia was sobbing now, the consciousness that the words spoken to him didn't mean pain, but were painful all the same, and were truth he couldn't hide from, and yet he couldn't understand.

"_When humans will come, you will be theirs, but before all of this, they are yours. All that you see is yours and all that you see is you"_ the blurring circle of light suddenly stopped, and everything fell into silence.

The creatures were still, almost holding their breaths.

"W…"

Tears flowing from his eyes, Britannia sniffled, curling around himself. The creatures had said the humans would come. It meant he wouldn't be able to run anymore.

Not even running would do him any good, then?

A single, small creature floated in front of his eyes. She was different from the red haired one from before, this one was slightly bigger, with flowing black hair.

"_We were always around you before, but you couldn't see us because your mother's power was woven all around you. She was the one before, you are the one now. And you have us now. You'll never be alone anymore"._

Shock made his hands tingle.

"N–never again?"

A giggle, but not the mocking kind.

"_Never again, child –never ever again"._

And that promise, that comforting promise, made him smile again. Loneliness… loneliness was bad. It was cold and he didn't like it. But those creatures were beautiful and he didn't want them to go away.

Britannia felt the world shimmer around him –not a light shimmering, but the entire veil of the world did; and then, life was everywhere.

Creature shifted from the bark of the trees, rustling leaves that were hair and snapping twigs that were fingers and limbs, rocks cracking open like eggs, eyes glowing everywhere, wings flapping and paws stomping and tails swishing.

Something similar to a horse, of a soft, silver–white, with a small horn on its head, moved closer to him, brushing Britannia's cheek with its head, neighing.

He giggled, wrapping his chubby hands around the unicorn's neck and rubbing his chin against the soft mane.

"You're so cute!"

More of the creatures approached him, curling next to him and keeping him warmed up against the cold of the night, and he giggled again, his tears finally forgotten.

"_You will grow strong"._

The words were purred in an undertone, as once again the faeries wrapped their lights around Britannia, cheering him up.

"_Grow into a state, grow into a Nation, grow with your people and grow with your territories"_ they hummed in happiness, curling more around the little kid that was not a kid. Britannia let out a happy gurgle._ "But never forget that once you were this"_.

Things would surely change. Little Britannia would meet people and learn things and grow up, but the Faeries, buzzing and vibrating all at once, bright and happy to have been finally _seen_, would never leave.

Britannia fell asleep, surrounded with lights and warmth and magic.

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**SOY:** ok, this was it. I hope you enjoyed, even if it was a bit strange.


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